LOVELAND — Northern Colorado business leaders and elected officials are working to build a transportation army to march on the state Capitol in Denver to demand more attention be paid to Interstate 25.

Leaders have long sought money to widen I-25 from south of Longmont to Fort Collins to handle the increasing population, which in northern Colorado alone has rendered that stretch of highway a "D" on the drive-ability scale. Money has been scarce, but some determined public leaders in the last year convinced legislators to put more money into the effort. Still, it's not enough, and those leaders on Tuesday encouraged everyone to become the squeaky wheel to get closer to the $1.7 billion needed to ease the congestion.

Residents only need to look back to the 2013 floods to see just what their future will be. For days, most north-south corridors in northern Colorado were closed because of massive flooding, said Barbara Kirkmeyer, Weld County commissioner and head of the I-25 Coalition, as she addressed a crowd of about 200 Tuesday at the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance Regional Issues Summit at the Embassy Suites at I-25 and Crossroads Boulevard. The summit is an annual event to summarize the issues northern Colorado business leaders will focus on in the coming legislative session.

"Nobody was getting anywhere, and for the next six weeks, we all experienced what 2035 is going to look like, and what it's going to look like if we don't do something," Kirkmeyer said.

“Nobody was getting anywhere, and for the next six weeks, we all experienced what 2035 is going to look like, and what it’s going to look like if we don’t do something. Barbara KirkmeyerWeld County Commissioner

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Last year, transportation officials secured a little more than $270 million to add a third lane in the middle of the corridor from Colo. 402 to Colo. 14 in Fort Collins, and rebuild major bridges along that stretch. That central lane will be a toll lane and a high-occupancy vehicle lane, which will start pushing cash toward the bigger problem.

The eventual goal is to make I-25 four lanes in each direction from 120th Avenue in Thornton to Colo. 14, which will take many years. But planning, Kirkmeyer said, needs to start now. The more immediate goal is for three lanes in each direction from Colo. 66 near Longmont to Fort Collins.

The funding for the express lane came from a hodge-podge of federal, state and local government money as well as some grants. But officials will soon advocate for additional revenue sources, and that could mean a dedicated sales tax or even an increase in the state gas tax, which has remained steady at 22 cents per gallon since 1992.

"Ninety-five percent of you in here spend more every year on your television and phone, double what you pay on transportation," said Johny Olson, region 4 transportation director for CDOT.

Another idea would be to bond for the project, which the state has done for years. It did so with the T-REX project in Denver years ago, bonds for which will be paid off next year.

"The request we've been making is let's jump-start these projects by borrowing some of these dollars," said David May, president of the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce, and chairman of the Fix I-25 Business Alliance.

The expected cost of the I-25 widening to four lanes is roughly $1.7 billion, which Kirkmeyer said no one is going to give freely. That also means the region has to continue to keep boots on the ground to keep the conversation alive.

"We're going to be the squeaky wheel … every conversation we have, talk about I-25," Kirkmeyer said. "We have to talk to U.S. senators, and it doesn't matter who is Democrat or Republican. Get us the money for I-25. … We have 420 percent growth along that corridor, that's an average in last 20 years. No one else has that."

One good thing is that this region is finally united in these transportation endeavors, leaders said. Fort Collins Mayor Gerry Horak called it "the coalition of the willing." Communities throughout the corridor have backed the effort, together contributing $25 million to the $270 million the state Department of Transportation secured this year to start working on the express-lane project.

"Not one portion of that (project) is in Weld, it's all in Larimer," Kirkmeyer said, "but we still found the value. We contributed $2 million out of our general fund."

Statewide, there's a $1 billion per year shortfall in annual transportation funding, which has ballooned to an $8 billion backlog today. Repairs on the flooded areas across the state have not helped that scenario.

"We are working with other partners around the question of new revenue sources to leverage those dollars for a bonding package," said Sandra Solin, who lobbies for the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance, a coalition of northern Colorado chambers of commerce. "There seems to be little debate on the work, about the need to do bonding. The question has shifted to how do we fund that?"

Solin said new leadership in the Legislature seems to be more supportive of transportation than she has seen in quite some time.

Still, it will be easy for many in the state to think the region's needs are set, after the state granted a majority of that $270 million for the express lane last session, Solin said.

"Currently, the allocations are done by formula, and the metro area has not been happy with how those dollars have been spent," Solin warned. "They are gearing up for this fight around how the dollars are allocated. We have to be prepared for that type of battle."